A new dividend to end the week

If you’ve invested in any of the defense stocks lately, you’ve done OK for yourself. I have Lockheed, Raytheon and General Dynamics in my portfolio, the last of which paid me a dividend for the first time Friday.

Today’s Dividends

General Dynamics: GD, relatively new to my portfolio, paid me $0.84 for the one share I own. I bought it for $189.14 back in April.

It’s pretty obvious why the stock has jumped a bit here recently. These are uncertain times and, well, people have defense on the mind. It’s up 33% over the course of the last year.

GD isn’t exactly cheap at the moment, but it does have a lot to like if you are looking to jump on board. It’s been raising its dividend for 19 consecutive year and has a super-low 34.4% payout ratio. Its $3.36 annualized payout equates to a 1.70% yield. As for that yield, it’s a bit on the low side for my liking, but that just means it has plenty of room to grow.

Nucor: NUE paid me $0.38 for the one share I own – a share I picked up for $62.28 back in December of last year. I’ve been paid the same $0.38 dividend for each of the last three quarters.

Despite the stock falling by about $7 since I pulled the trigger, I like the company’s potential to make me some money in the future, in terms of both capital appreciation and dividends.

NUE has raised its dividend for each of the past 43 years, and that number looks poised to grow as the payout ratio is low (36.2%) and the company probably doesn’t want to mess around with its stellar track record. It pays a $1.51 annualized dividend, which equates to a 2.73% yield.

Final Numbers

The two small dividends were my fourth and fifth of the week, so I’m right on track with an average of one per trading day. Today’s combined $1.22 gave me $18.24 in dividends for the week and $178.42 for the year.